E90Post
 


The Tire Rack
 
BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > Cosmetic and Lighting Modifications (exterior/interior) > REVIEW: DTEC v9.5 100W H8 Angel Eye Bulbs



Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      06-21-2014, 11:46 AM   #1
xijonix
Private
xijonix's Avatar
17
Rep
60
Posts

Drives: 2010 3 Series xDrive
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada

iTrader: (0)

REVIEW: DTEC v9.5 100W H8 Angel Eye Bulbs

My goal here is to find a set of LED Angel Eyes that illuminate more than the stock halogen bulb which due to temperature had a more prominent output than basic 20W CREE LED setups, especially during the day. I set out to do a review on the DTEC 100W v9.5 H8 LED angel eyes, as no one has really done a review on these LEDs and are claimed to be the brightest for CREE LEDs

NOTE: A Very Image Heavy Thread


Background:
Just recently about a month ago acquired my E90 LCI in Titanium Silver as a replacement to my previous vehicle a 2004 C Class which repair bill was never ending. When I first purchased the car there was just a few minor things that I wanted to change at that moment of time in terms of lighting and that was the xenon colour (knew a drop in illumination however I was use to my 6000K colour temperature) and the H8 Angel Eye Bulbs (from the stock yellowish colour). First I had purchased a set of GP Thunder 8500K v2 H8 bulbs and was 50% satisfied, the colour was cooler than what I was hoping for also when dimming came into effect the colour became too warm and dim for my liking. I purchased a set of 20W Cree angel eyes from eBay and was fairly impressed by their performance for the price point (~$45). I really liked the 20W CREE over the GP Thunders however they had some minor things that made me want to seek for better, (1) it would dim when the xenons came on, (2) was not very noticeable during the day. So here I saw myself aim to get a pair of DTEC v9.5 as their claim for the brightest LED CREE angel eyes in the market.

Involved in Application Process:
- BMW E90 LCI
- DTEC v9.5 100W H8 Angel Eye Bulbs - Seller E92-Lighting

Buying Experience:
Great buying experience, I PM’d E92-Lighting directly and got super quick response and very detailed answers to any questions I may of had of these angel eye bulbs which cost a fairly hefty price compared to the 20W CREE from eBay. Shipping was quick and I got lots of details on how I should properly install the bulbs into the housing. Shipping was quick and I received it quicker than expected.

Seller:
E92-Lighting

Shipping Time:
6 Days

Replacing:
20W CREE eBay Angel Eyes



Contents & First Impressions
* 2x DTEC v9.5 H8 LED Bulbs
* 2x 1 Piece Angel Eye Module/Drive
* Packaging Material - Bubble Wrap & Box
* Instruction slip

First impressions in regards to the look and feel are beyond my expectations, the construction is very well done with lots of attention to detail. The bulbs have a decent heft to them along with the Angel Eye Drives. High grade thicker than expected gauge of wiring, soldering job is really well done, CREE SMDs are very large and placed with precision. Included in the box was a slip of paper with basic instructions on how to properly install the LED Bulbs. The overall packaging was good, lots of bubble wrap that ensured no damage was to be done to the LED Bulbs during shipping.

Below are a few images of the unboxing and inspection process of the contents.














Install & Review
Installation of these LED H8 Bulbs were surprisingly easy, both sides were completed in less than 10 minutes, and fitment was great with really minor play with the bulbs installed into the socket. Removing the peg to properly shove the Angel Eye Drives to the bottom of the headlight housing to prevent damage to the drives, took very little effort. With the bulbs installed there was plenty of room still available, and turning the bulbs into place once inserted were easier than the 20W CREE as the fins that hold the bulb into the socket housing were less wide than both the stock halogen bulbs and the 20W CREE from eBay. Even with the air box in place on the drivers side, install was a breeze.

As you know, my previous set of bulbs were a set of 20W CREE H8 Bulbs form eBay which were surprisingly really good for the price, and they easily outperformed the GP Thunder 8500K V2 Bulbs. However there were downsides to these bulbs, (1) They dimmed when a voltage drop was present, (2) and they were not too visible in broad daylight.

With the first one in, right away I noticed an vast improvement over the 20W CREE eBay LED Bulbs, they were easily many times brighter than the 20W Cree eBay LED Bulbs and really visible in broad daylight, more so than the stock halogen bulb. The colour is warmer than the 20W CREE from eBay, it is a direct match to the stock welcome lights that are present when unlocking the vehicle (door handle LEDs & license plate LEDs). I’d say the colour of these are more so a 5000K, as it definitely looks warmer when put right up against my 6000K D1S xenon bulbs.

I haven’t had any coding done to my vehicle, so where the halogen H8 Angel Eye Bulbs would dim, the 20W CREE LED bulbs dimmed as well. However, these DTECs do not dim at all, not even a tiny bit, they maintain full brightness when xenons are on, and even when the vehicle is off. It seems that the Angel Eye Driver is able to compensate from the voltage drop to continue power to these bulbs that will keep them maintaining brightness/colour.

Below are a few images of the bulbs installed on the car.


Passenger Side (DTEC) & Driver Side (20W CREE eBay)




DTEC V9.5 H8


20W CREE eBay


Both DTECs installed




Later in the day


Later in the day up close


Even Later in the day


Evening


Xenons On





Colour comparison between DTECs (angel eye) & GP Thunder 8500K V2 (fogs)




Time to Wrap Up
Pros
  • Many times brighter than the 20W Cree from eBay & the GP Thunder 8500K V2 by far (it's a given)
  • Great build quality, with massive fins for head dissipation, proper rubber gasket seal
  • Well constructed Angel Eye Driver/Module
  • Nice colour temperature at ~5000K, however a tad bit cooler closer to 6000-6500K would be more preferred in terms of a closer match to my xenons, however they do match the vehicles LEDs perfectly at the moment so I’m more than content. (personal opinion based)
  • Same colour temperature & brightness when the voltage drops (uncoded)
  • Packaging was above my expectations, ensuring no damage what-so-ever to the bulbs (extreme bubble wrap)
  • Not a sign of flickering what-so-ever, even my camera cannot pick up a flicker. (which was picked up easily by my camera with the 20W Cree)


Cons
  • Only thing is the colour temperature for me, however I’m on the fence with this one, I like how it matches the entire vehicles stock LEDs (welcome lights on the door handles & license plate LEDs), however I’d also like it to come closer to the colour of my xenons. (personal opinion based)

These bulbs do cost a decent bit, full pricing is at $229 from E92-Lighting, which is much higher than the anything available on eBay, however the build quality, and engineering cannot be met by anything on eBay. As it sits right now, I’m fairly content, I am on the fence in terms of colour output, I’ll keep seeking to find anything else out there with the same brightness output but a tad bit cooler in temperature.


Finalize:
We will see how long these quality bulbs last, hopefully it will be a while especially at the price point it’s more so an investment. I will keep this thread updated in the future in regards to how they hold up in terms of bulbs & driver. I’m curious to test a pair of 80W CREE eBay LED Bulbs, when I do I’ll post a review up on them and compare them to the DTEC v9.5 100W H8 Angel Eye Bulbs. At the moment of time I’m content with the brightness of these bulbs and the colour temperature doesn’t really bother me as they do match the stock vehicle LED colour temperature.


Next on the List:
- Set of eBay 80W CREE H8 Angel Eye Bulbs (8 x 10W SMDS)

I do hope that this was some sort of help for anyone out there researching on some angel eyes, I will definitely be keeping these for some time and use them as my default angel eye bulbs as they are super bright and easily turn heads during the day.

Overtime I’ll continue to improve photo quality and have more use of my DSLR, all photos taken in this review was done with my Nexus 5.
__________________

BMW E90 LCI

Last edited by xijonix; 06-23-2014 at 06:41 PM..
Appreciate 0
      06-21-2014, 02:05 PM   #2
a31cefiro
Private
United_States
3
Rep
68
Posts

Drives: E90 335i
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Bay Area, CA

iTrader: (0)

The DTEC lights are obviously brighter than the ebay lights, but that just showcases the differences in brightness between the two rings. From what I see in the picture, the ebay angel eyes look more even in terms of brightness. Also, do these fade in/out when you unlock/lock the car? And if it does, does it so so evenly?
Appreciate 0
      06-21-2014, 03:28 PM   #3
xijonix
Private
xijonix's Avatar
17
Rep
60
Posts

Drives: 2010 3 Series xDrive
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by a31cefiro View Post
The DTEC lights are obviously brighter than the ebay lights, but that just showcases the differences in brightness between the two rings. From what I see in the picture, the ebay angel eyes look more even in terms of brightness. Also, do these fade in/out when you unlock/lock the car? And if it does, does it so so evenly?
Yeah, its based off my previous Angel Eye Bulbs, as I try more I'll compare everything to the DTEC. The 20W eBay bulbs were fairly bright for what they were, and their price point.

The bulbs are really bright so it's hard for the camera to pick up how even the bulbs are. In person there is more fill than the eBay bulbs of course in day light, however the inner rings are much much brighter than the outer ring during the day due to the brightness of the bulbs.

Daytime:

eBay 20W bulbs, in certain angles you'll be able to see the inner right but nothing at all for the other.

Dtec bulbs, in all angels you can see the inner ring, being over 10ft away from the car the other rings are visible, however during the day the inner rings definitely stand out more.

---
It's almost like no matter how bright the bulbs are, the outer ring during the day will be only visible at a certain distance/angle and the inner rings will always be so much brighter during the day time, since the dtecs are really bright you can easily during the day tell the difference between the inner ring and outer ring brightness w/ angles/distance taken into account.

At night the outer rings are much more visible with that it gives from a distance (10ft) a more even look between the two rings.

So in the end the DTECs are more even at night, while during the day they are so bright they very well illuminate the inner ring however due to the design of the headlight angel eye tubing the outer rings are not as visibly bright as the inner ring. As any angle you can see the inner ring but certain angles/distance for the outer.

It's nothing like the new bmw led angel eyes, and never will be unless you do some headlight modifications from what I can take away.

Update: Sorry didn't read the last part, yes they do fade when locking and unlocking the car. (Fade in, fade out).
__________________

BMW E90 LCI

Last edited by xijonix; 06-21-2014 at 04:08 PM..
Appreciate 0
      06-21-2014, 05:50 PM   #4
a31cefiro
Private
United_States
3
Rep
68
Posts

Drives: E90 335i
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Bay Area, CA

iTrader: (0)

Great pictures and review by the way. Looking forward to your next.
Appreciate 0
      06-22-2014, 12:17 PM   #5
dinanm3atl
Private First Class
99
Rep
198
Posts

Drives: M3 ZCP 70 Olds 442 F31 Diesel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by a31cefiro View Post
The DTEC lights are obviously brighter than the ebay lights, but that just showcases the differences in brightness between the two rings. From what I see in the picture, the ebay angel eyes look more even in terms of brightness. Also, do these fade in/out when you unlock/lock the car? And if it does, does it so so evenly?
This is my personal opinion. Outside of the one angled towards the passenger they look almost the same but the 20W looks better from further away. The way the H8 design works, no nearly as good as the original style in the E39, getting more and more power is leading to less quality results in my opinion. I personally think the 40W H8 style is the best result from the difference in ring brightness, day time visibility and looks.

I'd also disagree that the soldering looks amazing. It looks like it is spackled on. I'd personally not be happy with that. That is personal opinion.
Appreciate 0
      06-22-2014, 11:11 PM   #6
Ramsey
Second Lieutenant
Ramsey's Avatar
32
Rep
252
Posts

Drives: 2020 M340 xi
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Milwaukee

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
2005 545i  [0.00]
2011 335 M Sport  [0.00]
??

Is this supposed to be an objective review or a promotion for e-92 lighting??

Their DTEC product is subpar quality compared to slightly more expensive products on the market. This is based on my recent experience.

Dare I provide an honest review they bombard me with private messages promising their newts and latest product FREE of charge. But surely it is a gimmick and they never follow through.

I am very close to report them to the administrator of this site as a misleading vendor!!
Appreciate 0
      06-22-2014, 11:48 PM   #7
E92-Lighting
E92-Lighting's Avatar
United_States
856
Rep
35,253
Posts

Drives: Next Generation LED Lighting
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Walnut

iTrader: (324)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dinanm3atl View Post
This is my personal opinion. Outside of the one angled towards the passenger they look almost the same but the 20W looks better from further away. The way the H8 design works, no nearly as good as the original style in the E39, getting more and more power is leading to less quality results in my opinion. I personally think the 40W H8 style is the best result from the difference in ring brightness, day time visibility and looks.

I'd also disagree that the soldering looks amazing. It looks like it is spackled on. I'd personally not be happy with that. That is personal opinion.
this is your personal opinion, not a factual statement, in fact DTEC V9.5s are currently the brightest in the world because it was designed like that, it doesn't matter what we say, 30% of all people never believe us despite overwhelming evidence.
Appreciate 0
      06-22-2014, 11:52 PM   #8
xijonix
Private
xijonix's Avatar
17
Rep
60
Posts

Drives: 2010 3 Series xDrive
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramsey View Post
??

Is this supposed to be an objective review or a promotion for e-92 lighting??

Their DTEC product is subpar quality compared to slightly more expensive products on the market. This is based on my recent experience.

Dare I provide an honest review they bombard me with private messages promising their newts and latest product FREE of charge. But surely it is a gimmick and they never follow through.

I am very close to report them to the administrator of this site as a misleading vendor!!
No worries its honest, I'm keeping in contact with other companies to compare them to. If it wasn't honest I wouldn't be seeking a cheaper eBay counter part that would compare in brightness or come even close and be a fraction of the price.

I'm all about a quality product but also in for saving wherever I can, I'm not sure how long these bulbs will last I've only had them for a week that's why I stated in my op that I will update based on longevity of the bulbs.

I even knocked the bulbs for their color as majority of bulbs are more so a 6000-7000K for me the 5000K was a bit too warm for me in terms of matching my xenons and coming closer to the fogs.

Heck I did a review two weeks ago on a set of $45 angel eye bulbs from ebay and praised them for their price to performance, those were only 20w for $45. Imagine 80w for $75.

I'm out to help members on the forum, main reason to even write a review for the 9.5 is based off the fact that there isn't many reviews or feedback on it though there was tons on the lux v4 and DTEC v7.

Main goal is to help members by providing feedback for things not widely having feedback given for it, heck I have to purchase these bulbs the same way everyone else has to as well so what is my inclination to write a false positive review when I've got to purchase the bulbs?

Cheers
__________________

BMW E90 LCI

Last edited by xijonix; 06-22-2014 at 11:58 PM..
Appreciate 0
      06-23-2014, 12:12 AM   #9
xijonix
Private
xijonix's Avatar
17
Rep
60
Posts

Drives: 2010 3 Series xDrive
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by dinanm3atl View Post
This is my personal opinion. Outside of the one angled towards the passenger they look almost the same but the 20W looks better from further away. The way the H8 design works, no nearly as good as the original style in the E39, getting more and more power is leading to less quality results in my opinion. I personally think the 40W H8 style is the best result from the difference in ring brightness, day time visibility and looks.

I'd also disagree that the soldering looks amazing. It looks like it is spackled on. I'd personally not be happy with that. That is personal opinion.
I will agree that the 20w have a more even look during the day between the outer and inner rings. The dtecs are really bright so during the day the inner ring is so very visible and makes it tough to see the outer ring giving the perception that the inner ring is only on. However that I wouldn't consider a knock against DTEC however more so the design of the housing as it seems that maybe a 40w would be the max for a proper even look before anything brighter will start to be uneven in terms on inner and outer ring comparison during the day.

However at night and in the late evenings both rings look even, the outer ring matches the inner. It just seems during the day with the design of the rings that the outer ring is always going to have a max of daytime visual brightness no matter how bright the bulb is. Only thing that seems to be able to combat that is just the brightness and temperature of the stock halogen bulbs.

Honestly my quest for angel eyes aren't over I want to compare them all. I want to find what is the max you can go before the inner ring overwhelms the outer during the day.

Next on the list is 40w Cree and 80w Cree from eBay. So do look out for those reviews. Maybe even try a 32w maybe that's the perfect in the middle we'll find out just got to catch my hand on the money and go from there over time.

I do apologize for not giving a closer look at the soldering, it is in person really good in my opinion it seems spackled in the images but they do properly cover all connecting components with no loose solder and appropriate gaps between one another preventing any sort of shorting. Lots of times the soldering like this is usually hidden under the pole that goes up to the led smds and you'd only see the soldering for the wires leading out.

In the end I really personally like the brightness of the bulbs they look good even with just the inners showing super brightbduring the day that it turns heads. You'd never get a super bright outer ring during the day and be even with the inner ring unless you do headlight modifications. Oss. These will continue to be my daily driver also bfor the soul purpose of the engineering where they are able to combat the voltage drop. With the eBay ones if I find a perfect one (brightness output being not too bright or dim) I'd have to do coding on the vehicle.
__________________

BMW E90 LCI
Appreciate 0
      06-23-2014, 12:24 AM   #10
Meeni
Gateropode
Meeni's Avatar
329
Rep
2,848
Posts

Drives: BMW 330i 06
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: TN

iTrader: (0)

These are some ugly soldering. I guess if they work well in the end it's all that matters, but you just cited "amazing soldering" as a +, well no, that's about the worse you can do with an iron.
Appreciate 0
      06-23-2014, 02:03 PM   #11
xijonix
Private
xijonix's Avatar
17
Rep
60
Posts

Drives: 2010 3 Series xDrive
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Ontario, Canada

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meeni View Post
These are some ugly soldering. I guess if they work well in the end it's all that matters, but you just cited "amazing soldering" as a +, well no, that's about the worse you can do with an iron.
Closer look I do see what your saying I do apologize for the inaccurate +, I don't have so much experience with soldering, I had assumed due to it being done with no play and proper gapping as being adequate. Honestly if you see anything in the photos point it out, I want to update this thread based off everyones input if possible.

For me in terms of brightness its outstandingly bright, build quality seemed really good (personal opinion), however I'll keep an eye out to see if the soldering poses as a problem and update based off the reliability of these angel eye bulbs both the drives & led bulbs.

Do note lot of what I write in the op is personal opinion based, I'll learn more overtime with experience on trying out many more angel eye bulbs in the future, this is just my second set so the op will be updated as months progress onwards based off my experience with different products, knowing whats good vs bad.

I hope to at some point try many more bulbs and build up a comparison and guide. It'll just take a bit of time to acquire different sets and keep trying and review them.
__________________

BMW E90 LCI

Last edited by xijonix; 06-23-2014 at 06:51 PM..
Appreciate 0
      06-24-2014, 01:03 AM   #12
dinanm3atl
Private First Class
99
Rep
198
Posts

Drives: M3 ZCP 70 Olds 442 F31 Diesel
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by E92-Lighting View Post
this is your personal opinion, not a factual statement, in fact DTEC V9.5s are currently the brightest in the world because it was designed like that, it doesn't matter what we say, 30% of all people never believe us despite overwhelming evidence.
As I said personal opinion.

It might be the brightest in the world in terms of lumens but it is not over coming the design of the halo rings which has been talked about over and over again. It has more LEDs and more wattage. So it is brighter. My personal tastes says don't go too much as the difference in rings become more noticeable.

The soldering I'll hold to my opinion.






OP - My apologies if my reply came off like a knock against your review or what you are doing. I know many appreciate the review threads as many are not looking for 200 dollar LED bulbs. Sorry if it came off that way.
Appreciate 0
      06-25-2014, 04:43 PM   #13
E92-Lighting
E92-Lighting's Avatar
United_States
856
Rep
35,253
Posts

Drives: Next Generation LED Lighting
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Walnut

iTrader: (324)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramsey View Post
??

Is this supposed to be an objective review or a promotion for e-92 lighting??

Their DTEC product is subpar quality compared to slightly more expensive products on the market. This is based on my recent experience.

Dare I provide an honest review they bombard me with private messages promising their newts and latest product FREE of charge. But surely it is a gimmick and they never follow through.

I am very close to report them to the administrator of this site as a misleading vendor!!

your FREE upgrade offer to DTEC V9.5s was already sent out just for you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meeni View Post
These are some ugly soldering. I guess if they work well in the end it's all that matters, but you just cited "amazing soldering" as a +, well no, that's about the worse you can do with an iron.

very easily correctable, in fact, a very easy fix.
Appreciate 0
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
angel eyes, bulb, cree, dtec, led

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:05 AM.




e90post
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST